Heart and Ferns - Countdown to VDay
by NightRhain
Summary: Zosan Secret Valentine for DogDemonsRule5. Prompt: Fluff/Drama, Valentine themed, Romantic!Zoro. Rated: M for mature themes of violence and captivity. Setting: Just before Z. Premise: The One Piece crew stock up on a merchant ship similar in concept to the Baratie. The captain running the ship reminds Sanji of Zeff, and Sanji reminds the captain of someone important to him too.
1. Prologue

Prologue

There were no windows inside the cell. He assumed. The blindfold made it hard to say for sure. It was cold, and damp. Days ago he remembered it being painful, too, but he was long since passed that. He could hardly even remember how he got there anymore.

There was no such thing as time anymore. There certainly was no such thing as food. No such thing as laughter, or sunshine, or music. There was just darkness and hunger. But when he thought about it, when he really put his mind to the efforts of remembering, he could still see their faces. He still had the capacity for hope.

They thought they knew him.

They thought they could break him.

Alone in the darkness, bound, and numb to the world, Sanji grinned.

They didn't know anything.


	2. One

Sanji leaned over the display case, looking, but not touching. In his arms he held bags filled heavy with pink and red supplies. It was only a few short weeks until Lupercalia, and he intended to be prepared.

As a very young child, Sanji's family celebrated the festival from the 13-15th of the second moon of the year. His mother told him it had something to do with diverting evil spirits, promoting health and fertility, and purification. All he knew was that they would travel for days to get to the city, just so he and his mother could line up and get smacked by some asshole in a loin cloth and a scary mask.

When Sanji lost his parents and set out to sea as an orphan cook-in-training on the Cruise Orbit, he missed a lot of things about his family, but the Wolf Festival was not one of those things. Sure, there was dancing, and a feast, but it was hard to get past the generally annoying and somewhat embarrassing parts of the celebration.

Years later, when he found out that the okama of Kamabakka Kingdom celebrated this weird holiday, Sanji wanted to cry. It turned out he was worried for no reason. He should have known the traditions would be different from the ones he grew up with.

Instead of sacrificing goats and dogs, the okama wrote anonymous letters to their crushes. They signed them 'Your Valentine,' in honour of some saint Sanji had never heard of, and they called the celebration Valentine's Day.

Ivankov explained that Lupercalia had been a long standing tradition, brought to them by some famous North Blue okama when she came to live on the island. Over the years, the festival skewed away from one of fertility, and turned into a festival of love. Love, Ivankov explained, was a matter for the heart that went well beyond physicality. Since the vessel itself was not as important as the soul, the okama grew to celebrate the emotion instead of physicality. The letters they wrote to each other were a reflection of that powerful emotion, and had nothing to do with sense or reason.

Sanji could certainly attest to the lack of sense and reason. He'd received quite a few of those 'Valentine' messages. Some of them were sweet, or funny. Not very serious. Some of them made him genuinely laugh. Most of them were downright vulgar. But there had been one…

"Oi, Cook."

The frustrating presence of his ship's swordsman drew Sanji back to reality. He looked back for the source, but didn't have to look very far. Somehow between Sanji's day dreams and his mindless browsing, the lousy bastard had managed to sneak up so close he was almost breathing in Sanji's ear. Sanji jolted back out of the way. He was flushed from his memories, but that deepened into embarrassment for how easily Zoro had taken him by surprise. "Don't go sneaking up on people when they're in the middle of doing business, asshole!"

Zoro lifted a challenging brow but didn't rise to the bait. He looked down at the display case filled with all sorts of fancy lighters and pipes and cases that Sanji couldn't afford thanks to his earlier shopping. Without comment, he shifted his eye back to Sanji. "We're ready to go. Now's not the time for pointless browsing."

Sanji grit his teeth, grumbling at the interrupting cow before turning his attention to the shop keep. Pushing the annoyance away, he managed a polite smile for the stranger. "I guess that's everything for today," he said and gave a regretful nod.

The shop keep looked just as regretful. Sanji had been a good customer, after all, buying him out of all of the cola, spices, and milk that he'd had for sale. He'd been certain Sanji was going to buy one of his fancy lighters, too.

Sanji had to duck to get through the small door of the shop, but that was just one of the seemingly hundreds of shops located in the hold of the Sea Market. Most of the other shops had larger doors, and some of them even looked like they were built for giants. The 'streets' of the market were made of stone, and seemed to go on forever. The ship wasn't anywhere near as big as Thriller Bark, but even the Sunny was dwarfed by the bulk.

The market was fairly busy, considering the ship was in the middle of nowhere. The captain set sail for wherever he decided they needed to be, and his crew always followed without question. It was on no map, and no pose could find it—facts that had both fascinated and annoyed Nami to no end.

Catching sight of the captain selecting an apple from a nearby vendor, Sanji smiled kindly at him. He respected the man for seeing a need in the world, and deciding to go into business as a mobile merchant. He reminded him a little bit of Zeff, only younger. And nicer.

The captain's name was Reddan. He was a large man, somewhere around Franky's size (though without all of the cybernetic enhancements to his arms and shoulders). His hair was blond like Sanji's-a rarer hair colour on the global scale, so it was certainly one of note-but his eyes were big and brown and kind, like Nami's.

Reddan confided in him that someone he cared very much about had died just recently. He went on to say that the way Sanji acted reminded him of that person, except Sanji's sea legs were a lot more steady than his. It made Reddan happy to have Sanji around, and as a result the whole crew was invited to dinner.

After spending a few hours laughing and talking about the similarities between the Sea Market and the Shitty Restaurant, Sanji was more than a little homesick, and it was starting to show in his body language. As though he were making an attempt to cheer Sanji back up, Captain Reddan declared anything Sanji wanted to buy would be at half the price.

After that, Nami decided that Sanji would be doing all of the shopping, while the rest of them did who knew what back on the Sunny.

Seeing Sanji alone with all of his bags, Reddan excused himself and walked over to join him. "Next time I see you, we'll have some of that Aqua Laguna salt you were looking for." The larger man promised, with a bit of a sad frown hidden in his smile. He set a hand on Sanji's shoulder and squeezed just the once. He was uneasy, which made sense; they both knew that in all likelihood, they would never see each other again. Sanji had gotten used to those sort of goodbyes, but something about the way the old man reminded him of Zeff made this one seem somehow sadder.

For a moment, his hand lingered and his grip tightened. It looked like he had something very important to say, even going so far as to lean in next to Sanji's ear and part his lips for words, but none came. Instead, he pulled back and gave Sanji a genuine smile.

"Sanji-kun," Nami said as she and Chopper walked over to join him. "There's a storm coming and it looks like it's going to be bad. If we don't leave now, we might not be able to for another week."

And there was no way Luffy would handle being cooped up on an unmoving ship for a week. He'd go mad, and they'd end up killing him. Or worse, he'd end up wrecking this nice man's ship the same way he'd done to the Baratie. "Of course, Nami-san."

Sanji turned back the captain to finish their goodbye, but he was already gone.

Chopper was sliding half of the packages out of his arms to help carry the load and said, "Was that the captain you were talking to?"

Sanji nodded, though he didn't know why Chopper would ask such a question instead of just relying on his scent. He smiled gratefully at the help.

"He's scary," Chopper said with a shiver.

Sanji frowned in disagreement. A little rough around the edges, maybe, but Sanji thought he came off as quite charming for an old sailor. Then again, Chopper didn't really have a lot of good experiences with those sorts of men. After adjusting his hold on the remaining packages, Sanji turned his head to yell back at Zoro. "You're going to be left behind if you don't hurry up, Marimo!"

Zoro was rubbing his forehead as he exited the smoke shop he'd found Sanji in, and Sanji had a little bit of glee for the notion that he'd hit his head on the door. "Who are you calling a Marimo," he grumbled without any heat to it. "Idiot," he added, almost as an afterthought.

They argued companionably all the way back to where the Sunny was docked off the side of the Sea Merchant.


	3. Two

Two

Sanji cursed and chucked his empty lighter into a trashcan in the galley. With a sigh he turned away from the dishes he was just finishing up to where he was steaming milk on the stove. With no lighters left, he leaned in close and lit his cigarette on the burner instead.

The door to the galley blew open with a clatter, and a drenched idiot walked in dripping water everywhere in his wake. Zoro turned back and fought with the door until it closed. The storm was getting worse, but Nami had promised they were better off than they would have been if they'd stayed at the Sea Market.

"Good, you're already cooking." Zoro couldn't have been more wet if he'd jumped head first into the ocean.

As though hearing Sanji's thoughts, the swordsman took off his jacket and hung it on the coat rack. He then proceeded to remove the shirt that had been soaked through underneath, and to kick off his boots where they could dry in the corner. Finally comfortably half naked, Zoro slumped down on one of the bar stools and just… dripped there.

Sanji would have yelled at him, but he looked so much like a drowned puppy—his hair all matted about the edges of his face and his nose all wet—that Sanji couldn't draw up the energy to kick him while he was down. Instead, he reached over and picked up the mug he'd already had warmed for his own latte. He filled it with some of the warm double strong coffee he'd already made and slid it across the counter to Zoro.

Zoro lifted the cup with both hands, drinking gingerly before sighing contently. His shoulders relaxed, and the crease between his eyebrows faded away. It made Sanji feel warm inside to see how his cooking had an impact on someone else, even if it was just coffee.

Sanji retrieved a second glass and took the rest of the coffee for himself. He then removed the milk from the stove, and added it to the centre of his own cup. Swaying the small pot back and forth created gentle ripples of white in the brown, he finished the design off by pulling the pot towards himself, and then running a line back through the centre. The result was a flawless Rosetta that even Zeff would have approved of.

With a small, proud smile, he looked up to discover Zoro staring at him with an expression Sanji didn't recognise. It made him pause and stare back. "What?" he asked, defensively.

Zoro didn't seem surprised by the tone. "Why don't you ever draw little pictures in my coffee?"

That was… That wasn't anything he ever expected Zoro to ask. Sanji blinked. "You don't like milk in your coffee."

"How do you know? You've never given me coffee with milk in it."

Sanji stared at Zoro's stupid face. He was still paused with the pot in one hand and his own mug in the other. "Because I know what you like. You like your coffee black and strong enough to put hair on the chest. Not that it's worked out for you so far…"

Zoro didn't rise to the bait. "Yeah, but /how/ do you know?"

Sanji didn't know how to answer that. He just did. He knew how all of them liked their coffee. Robin got a flower, Nami got a heart, and Usopp got a butterfly. Brook drank tea or milk, Franky drank cola, and neither Chopper nor Luffy bothered with coffee.

When Zoro wasn't drinking sake, he drank his coffee black. It was a fact, but Sanji genuinely didn't have an answer for how he'd noticed it without experimenting.

Sanji stared at Zoro then slowly set his own mug down. He reached out to take Zoro's mug away, and Zoro allowed it without a comment.

Sanji tipped the mug and pot together. He drew a neat set of three ferns and sliced a line down each of them, representative of Zoro's swords. He did it fast, without thinking. It was all instinct and years of practiced motions. Then he set the mug on the counter and slid it back to Zoro.

Zoro stared at the design, and the only sound in the room was of the water dripping on the floor. After at least a full minute of staring, Sanji demanded, "Well?"

Zoro still made no move to take the cup, though he did look up at Sanji's face. "I don't want to drink this now," he said simply.

This irritated Sanji to no end. "You're SUCH an ASSHOLE," he chewed at him, eyes lit with a passionate fire. He picked up a knife to threaten Zoro with. "I'll dice you and serve you to Luffy for breakfast!"

Before things could escalate further, the ship jarred like it had been struck with a cannonball. Immediately the pair went from yelling to moving in tandem.


	4. Three

Three

The cook never had a chance.

The Sunny had been attacked by an enemy they could neither hit, nor even see through the darkness and the storm. At best they were defending the ship, but more often than not they were having a hard time defending themselves. Even the explosions from the cannonballs only lit the view for a moment, and then that light too would fade.

He didn't know how anyone could hear Usopp yelling from the lookout, but his voice managed to carry information on the wind. The attack came at them from under the water, leaving little to be done for it.

Zoro, Chopper, and Luffy defended as best they could against the cannonballs that came at them from all angles. Zoro didn't know how it was possible that the cannonballs were coming down and across from underneath the water, but he didn't have much time to consider logistics either. The rest of the crew was making for the lower decks where they intended to use the Shark Sub III to find their enemies.

The cook had been among that crowd, heading to the docks to help with recon and find some sort of weakness that could be used against their attackers, but on his way to the stairs he caught sight of something off the other side of the ship. Whatever it had been, the shape of it was huge. Easily as big as a sea king or a whale.

Whatever it was, this too was mounted with cannons.

The first shots were fired towards the three defending the ship. Luffy and Chopper were hit, and suddenly entangled in a wiry netting. Zoro managed to dodge, but only barely. He cut through two more shots aimed at him before rushing to help Chopper and Luffy. They would be okay, but Usopp… Usopp fell when the net hit him. Head first towards the deck. From that height, he would have broken his neck for sure.

And then the cook… Sanji jumped to intercept.

Sky Walk.

It was too windy. It was way too windy to walk on the sky.

Usopp was in a net, and Sanji still had that stupid knife in his hand. He'd just reacted on some sort of stupid instinct to save his friend. The wind and the rain pounded against him. And then there was the cannonball that shot up at him from the ocean.

It came without warning just as Sanji wrapped his arms around Usopp. It nailed him directly in the side, knocking both the sniper and the cook over the side of the ship. Into the dark and cold and angry ocean.

Sanji wanted to find All Blue, not All Black.

After that, the attack stopped as suddenly as it started.

Usopp climbed back up onto the deck by himself. He told the others about how there were fishmen below who had dragged Sanji away. Usopp tried to follow, but they were too fast, and they went too deep. Usopp had lost sight of them almost immediately.

They searched all night and into the morning, with Nami doing everything she could to keep the storm at bay. It wasn't enough.

For fear of the ship capsizing, the crew was forced to fall back to safer seas.

Luffy just stood at the side of the ship, arms folded and eyes wide and alert, like he thought he might be able to see Sanji if he looked hard enough. Who knew, maybe he could…

Nami spent her time at the helm next to Franky, rain pummeling them as they worked out a route for both escape and return. Zoro was pretty sure she was crying, though she didn't let it show on her proud face. The rain hid the tears nicely for her.

Chopper treated Usopp for a knife wound he'd received when Sanji fumbled his rescue plan, and Brook and Robin stayed behind in the Shark Submerge III. A brave thing for two fruit users to do in the ocean, though neither one complained.

Zoro was supposed to be on watch, but he needed a break.

He stared at the cold coffee still sitting on the island where they'd left them. The cups were overturned and Sanji's ferns had spilled all over the counter. The design Zoro hadn't wanted to wreck had been destroyed in the end anyway, and he hadn't even gotten to try it.

Zoro picked up one of the mugs and threw it at the wall in frustration. It shattered of course, making an even bigger mess in Sanji's kitchen. Good. If Sanji cared about it that much, he could come back and clean it himself.

He continued until all of the dirty dishes that had been out were smashed. Then he picked up a plate from the drying rack, and lifted his arm to throw that too. The drying towel that had been sitting on the counter fell onto his foot, and Zoro's arm paused mid throw.

_'Zoro…'_

Sanji used to say his name all the time when they first met. It was incredibly enticing just to hear the way his lips made it happen. When they did the dishes together, he would say it every time he was about to pass one. Something he no doubt learned from working in a kitchen. Something you would do if you didn't want a person to drop and break a dish.

Almost ashamed of what he'd done, Zoro set the dish back on the counter. After a moment to cool himself down, he went to find a broom. Wouldn't do to have anyone see how much Sanji's loss was upsetting him. Wouldn't do to have anyone see how much he cared.


	5. Four

Four

Luffy refused to eat.

Chopper cleaned the glass out of Zoro's finger without asking how it happened. He'd heard the noise. He'd even seen the mess Zoro made in the kitchen before the swordsman had decided to clean it up. They would need new dishes. A lot of new dishes.

Brook and Robin had returned without any luck. Brook made tea for everyone. Usopp made salad. Nami stuck to peaches.

Nothing tasted very good.

It was Zoro who finally decided to try cooking something real. The meat would go bad if he didn't, and that would piss their cook off. He couldn't remember exactly what Sanji had said to him that time… but he was sure it had something to do with not letting anyone starve to death.

Zoro discovered that day just how hard cooking was.

Luffy still refused to eat.


	6. Five

Five

Sanji didn't know how many days had gone by. He'd woken up in darkness with a stabbing pain in his side. Broken ribs. At least that was a pain he was familiar with. He could handle that.

He could handle the ropes that bound his hands behind him. He could handle the blindfold and gag. He could handle the feel of the broken ankle rubbing against the metal chain that was clamped tightly around it.

He could handle the feel of the cold, stone floor he was laying on, and the way it pressed him in all the wrong ways.

He could even handle the pang in his stomach reminding it had been some time since he'd eaten, the smell in the room, and the fever that was burning his cheeks.

What he wasn't sure he knew how to handle was all of it together.

Sanji rolled over onto his back and tried to free his hands, but the action jarred his leg, sending pain shooting up to his spine. He yelled out at how intensely he felt it through the fog of his fever. The last thing he heard before passing out was the sound of his own voice echoing off a small cell.

It would be another two days before he woke up again.


	7. Six

Six

"Zoro." Luffy didn't turn his head to greet Zoro when his first mate joined him at the rail. The sun was coming up on a new day, red and bloody against the black clouds. They'd found their way into the eye of the storm thanks to Nami, who promised they would be able to back track their path by the next morning. Then they were going to find him.

Zoro didn't say anything. He just set a plate of sliced fruits and cheeses next to the Captain. Luffy didn't bother to look down at them. "My ship has a cook already. I'm not replacing him."

Zoro shrugged and rested one arm on the hilts of his swords. "Didn't say you had to." He nudged the plate towards Luffy. "None of this is cooked. So, you wouldn't be insulting him if you ate it."

Luffy finally did look down at the plate then. Perhaps that could be an 'out' for his situation. His stomach grumbled.

"He'd be mad at you if you wasted food," Zoro continued, and Luffy had to tip his hat forward to cover the sadness that welled up in his eyes.

"He would..." Luffy agreed.

"And he would be mad if you were starving yourself on his account."

That was true too. "Did you know that Sanji was in a ship wreck when he was a kid?" Zeff had told the story when Zoro wasn't there, so Luffy was pretty sure Zoro didn't know. "He nearly starved to death."

Zoro leaned against the rail to listen to his captain, and Luffy could tell the new information was casting Sanji in a different light for Zoro. It certainly made how he fed people who were trying to kill him make more sense. Someone who had starved might be less likely to want to see that suffering in someone else.

"He was out there, and he needed his crew. But they didn't find him." Luffy set his jaw, anger boiling at the surface. "We're going to find him, so he knows we're not dead and that we didn't abandon him. We're going to find him. And then we're going to have the biggest feast." Luffy grinned as he stared out at the sea.

They would find him. They were getting closer. Luffy could tell.

Zoro stayed quiet for a long time, and Luffy finally looked over at him. He'd crossed his arms and tipped his head forward to his chest. His eyes were both closed, and he had a tight grasp on his emotions. "...Who's going to cook it?" Zoro asked, pragmatically.

"Who else? Sanji of course!" Luffy made a sound that was both genuine, and a shadow of his normal laugh. It was a simple fact. Sanji was their cook, so when they feasted it was on his food.

"You can't ask a guy cook his own celebration dinner!" Zoro snapped. Zoro needed someone to yell at, and Luffy could see it, so he didn't mind the swordsman yelling at him.

His outrage actually made Luffy laugh harder. More genuine. It was so normal that it made him feel better about the whole situation. "I wouldn't have to ask! Sanji's our cook, so he would just do it automatically."

Zoro was about to yell and pitch a fit, but then the fight just washed away from him. He calmed down completely. "Idiot," he said fondly. "Eat the stupid grapes, and try not to choke on them, because I'm not going to help you out if you do."

Luffy started eating again that day.


	8. Seven

Seven

Sanji heard someone screaming. It was the first sound that hinted he wasn't alone in the world, and it drew him up into consciousness. He wasn't gagged anymore—apparently he'd worked it out of his mouth in his sleep—so he tried calling out to the other person.

His voice wouldn't come.

Tired, and dry, and cracked. He kept trying, and finally managed to make a sound in the darkness. He was too late, though; the other person had already stopped screaming. Sanji kept yelling for as long as he could to get the other person to reply, but he never received an answer.

His leg hurt, so he shifted it. The chains clanked. That was when he realised they were attached to something that was actually going THROUGH his ankle. He'd be lucky if he ever walked again. Even if he could get out of the room, even if he could get out of the chains, he would have to find a way to escape by crawling.

He would be trapped in the small stone cell forever. Maybe he would starve to death, maybe he would get sick and pass away, or maybe he would just go mad from the silence and beat his own head against the floor just to hear himself die.

He screamed then. He screamed for Luffy to find him. He screamed for Robin, or Usopp, or Zoro, or Nami, or anyone. He screamed for every person whose name he could remember. He screamed like a lunatic just to hear the sound of his own voice until he couldn't scream anymore. Then he cried himself to sleep.


	9. Eight

Eight

There was a sound. There was a sound that was not screaming and not pain.

A rock was scraping against another rock. Then something else. Metal or tin on a stone surface. A tray was slid towards him, and Sanji could smell something sweet on it. There was a small hole in the wall that let enough light in to see the outline of a tray with a sliced up apple. They'd brought him food. Simple, and natural, and sweet, they brought him an apple.

Then there was more scraping. The light faded away as they slid the small flat stone back into place. Whoever it was, they were closing him back in again.

"…wait…" he rasped. His lips were dry and cracked, and his voice hardly even existed anymore.

It was enough. The scraping paused. A small voice whispered so quietly back at him that Sanji couldn't tell if it was a man or a child. "Give in," it said. "And he'll let you out." Then the voice finished closing the stone in all the way.

"Wait, please…" he begged. The request fell on deaf ears. "Come back," he whispered to the empty room and heard his own voice crack at the effort.

Give in to what? He was cold and alone. No one had left him any demands that he could remember, but he was getting to the point where he couldn't remember much of anything.

At least they'd left him food. He could give in to that. He could give in to his hunger. Gladly, even.

His brain told him it could be poisoned, but he reasoned with his brain that if they wanted him dead he'd be dead. Carefully, so as not to hurt his existing injuries, Sanji lifted his head and began eating the apple someone had sliced up for him. No hands in the darkness, he was left to guess and feel, but he was pretty sure he got it all. Core and everything.

That night, the fever came back. He'd never felt anything like it. He was dizzy, and he never got dizzy. The loneliness and hunger and pain came back to him, and his body ached for him to throw up, but he fought the urge away. He refused to lose any of the precious little food his captors had gifted him with.

So, instead, he curled up as small as he could, and he went back to sleep.


	10. Nine

Nine

He'd almost forgotten what light looked like. His eyes were covered with a cold compress, but he could tell the room was brighter. Warmer. Softer, even. Was he in a bed?

The cloth came away and Sanji saw a beautiful woman with large and searching eyes. She reminded him of Conis, and was probably at the very least from Skypiea. Had he gone from Hell to Heaven?

"You gave us quite the scare," she said softly as she adjusted some sort of IV in his veins. Sanji could tell she was genuinely concerned about him. He didn't know how he could tell, but he just knew it to be true. He felt terrible for not having the energy to comfort her.

She smiled at him in such an odd way, and Sanji couldn't guess at the motivation behind it.

His new room was lit by a lamp on a bedside table, though Sanji could see no cord for a plug. Dial technology, no doubt. The walls and floor looked like they were made of wood instead of stone. There were still no windows, but he had to acknowledge it was an improvement over his former situation. "Where are we?"

She gave him a tight smile. "You're safe here, for now. We're going to fix you all up. Get you healed, and dressed. Then you'll be able to join the master for dinner."

Only then did Sanji realise someone had removed not only the shackles, but his clothes as well. Which meant he was lying naked in front of some poor woman. Modesty made him blush, and he saw her blush too, apparently embarrassed on his behalf.

She reached out quickly to comfort him. "It's alright. I'm a healer… I am very used to seeing the human body…"

Sanji swallowed. He felt dizzy again. He hated feeling dizzy.

She pulled her hand back away, and he felt marginally better to have the space. She was staring at him, eyes sad and still so concerned. "You look so much like him," she breathed.

"Who?" Sanji asked.

"Shhh," she said. "Just sleep for now."

Sanji thought that sounded like a terrible idea. He wanted answers. He wanted freedom. He wanted his Nakama.

But once the notion of sleep was put in his head, his eyelids became heavy and he drifted off.


	11. Ten

Ten

It was morning when Sanji woke up. He had no clock to tell him so, but there was a bowl of porridge sitting on the nightstand in his new room with steam still rolling off it. Porridge was a breakfast meal.

He sat up gingerly and discovered his ribs didn't hurt at all anymore. His leg still throbbed, but it was dull. He was hungry, but not overwhelmingly so. Was the Conis lookalike some sort of magical healer? A real angel?

A quick check with his fingers, and Sanji discovered what still felt like broken bones. They were still at least partly broken, even if he wasn't feeling any pain from them. Something to be careful of when things got stressful. Next he checked out his ankle, but at some point in his sleep someone had wrapped it in a cast. That was going to make walking hard, but not impossible.

Deciding this was as good a time as any to get answers, Sanji pulled the blankets back. Someone had dressed him in a pair of denim pants and a simple white button up shirt in his sleep. Dizziness waved over him again, and he closed his eyes against it. Frustrated, he flopped back on the bed, willing himself better.

As though in response, his stomach rumbled. The porridge smelled good, and he needed food to get strong. He could figure out the rest after he ate. Plus, the master wanted him to eat, and Sanji wanted to please the master...

Hours passed before he saw anyone again. He'd gotten up and wandered around his room using the IV stand as a crutch. Not only did the room have no windows, but there was also no door. He'd gone from a prison cell to a great big fancy crate.

Carefully, Sanji shifted his weight to his broken leg, pulled back, and snapped out with a powerful kick. The wall shattered under the power of it. Good, just a normal crate. Flicking away any splinters, Sanji stepped through the hole, dragging his 'crutch' with him as he went.

The crate seemed to be in the hold of a huge warehouse along with hundreds of other crates in dozens of different sizes and shapes. Most of them were the same size of the one he'd broken out of. Room sized for a normal person. Sanji ripped the IV out of his arm to grant himself mobility, and then set out to investigate.

He managed to move a few steps before he was overwhelmed by vertigo.

"Dammit," he hissed as he stumbled and fell against the side of a crate.

"Who's there?" Sanji thought he heard, and his vertigo increased. He felt desperate of a sudden, and as much as he wanted out, part of him wished he'd stayed in the crate where the master wanted him.

A weird thought, he noted... Who was the master, and how did Sanji know what he wanted?

He shook it away and pressed back up with a stagger. He could count on both hands the number of times he'd felt worse than this and still carried through. He could do it again. One foot leading the other, Sanji began to drag himself forward with momentum.

He kept moving until he noticed the wood under his bare foot had turned to stone at some point. It was a familiar feeling thanks to his recent past. It felt exactly how it did when he'd been trapped in the stone cell. Suddenly, he didn't feel so free anymore. Everything was closing in on him. He heard screaming. Darkness flowed over him, and he collapsed into the arms of someone he hadn't heard come up on him.

"I really wish you wouldn't have left the room, Sia," he heard someone say. Who was Sia? That wasn't his name. Was it? "You're not strong enough to be wandering around just yet." Arms wrapped around his waist and someone pulled him close. "But I will protect you... I will keep you safe."

Sanji believed him.


	12. Eleven

Eleven

Sia was seated at a table in a large empty dining hall. He didn't remember how he got there, but he didn't feel any malice. His toes of both of his feet were bare where they brushed against the floor. The chair he was in was meant for someone much larger.

There was a plate of dinner in front of him, as well as a fork and knife, so he picked those up and started eating. The meal was good. He didn't recognise the meat, but the spices were familiar. The salt was delicious. Something he hadn't tasted in years.

Not since around when they'd picked up Franky.

Sanji blinked, staring at his meal. Salt from the Aqua Laguna.

Memory rolled over him, and he realised how he'd ended up at the table. He remembered the voice that had comforted him. "Reddan," he said softly in realisation.

"Sia?" A tall figure stepped out of the shadows. He didn't say anything else as he crossed to Sanji's side.

'That's not my name!' Sanji wanted to scream at him, but couldn't make his lips form the words. "What's going on?" He whispered.

Reddan slid the fork out of Sanji's hand and impaled the piece of meat Sanji had just cut up. "We are having a nice conversation," he said softly. His voice was calm and comforting, but Sanji didn't buy it. Everything was fucked up. He could feel it.

Reddan didn't seem to notice his inner turmoil. He lifted the bite to Sanji's lips, fully expecting Sanji to eat it. When the blond refused to, he pressed harder, and the juices ran down Sanji's chin into his beard. Reddan's soft brown eyes seemed colder then. He was getting frustrated. Sanji could feel how frustrated Reddan was getting, and it scared him, but he still didn't give in to eating the food. He wanted answers, not games.

Reddan responded to the disobedience by backhanding him across the face, and it stung like a bitch. Sanji held on to that. He held on to the pain Reddan inflicted, and tried to train his brain to look at this person as an enemy. He turned his head up to look at the larger man in defiance, and spat into his face.

Reddan was furious. He hit Sanji again. This time hard enough to topple the chair and knock Sanji to the ground. Sanji had the presence of mind to realise his leg wasn't in a cast anymore, though he didn't remember it being taken off. He pushed up quickly and scrambled back from the larger man, ready to defend.

Reddan wasn't advancing on him anymore, though. He was just standing next to the table, wiping the spit off his cheek and onto a napkin like a regular civilized person. As opposed to Sanji, who thought he probably looked like a wild animal.

"You look tired is what you look," Reddan said with a sigh as he folded his napkin and set it on top of Sanji's abandoned plate. And fuck if Sanji didn't suddenly feel tired. "Sleep," he said in a low pitch that vibrated in Sanji's bones.

The cook didn't know if sleep was what he wanted, but he did close his eyes.

When he opened them again, he was back to being trapped in the stone room. Healed, unbound, but still trapped.

"It looks like we'll have to start this all over again," he heard someone say.

Sanji screamed as loud as he could. There was no response other than the echo of his own voice off the stone.


	13. Twelve

Twelve

It had been ten days since Sanji had disappeared, and the Strawhats were in need of a new plan. They needed a better base, and more supplies. They needed intel. They needed a port in the storm.

Luffy decided they were going to head east instead of going back towards where they'd last seen Sanji. There was seemingly little reason for his order, but they generally didn't need one to follow Luffy's decisions. Once the course was set, the captain climbed up into his special seat, and stared straight ahead. He didn't come down after making the decision to find the Sea Market, and had that strange look in his eyes that Usopp recognised as that special brand of D determination.

Zoro wasn't much help either. Even he, as lost as he could get, was certain they were travelling in the right direction. He crossed his arms and stood near the front of the ship like he was daring someone to get past him to question the captain.

Nami was the next to decide they were making the right choice, siting the fact that the captain had never steered them wrong before. That decision was the final nail in their coffin of aimlessness.

Usopp wanted to believe in the captain. He _tried_ to believe in the captain. But despite his best efforts, he was still surprised when they cleared the last sheets of the storm and discovered a huge floating marketplace. No one had any idea how they did it, but Luffy, Zoro, and Nami had managed to guide them back to the Sea Merchant.

Only then did Luffy decide to come down from his place. He stretched after his sandals hit the deck, but his expression didn't change from that ready and determined look he'd had for over a week. Zoro fell into step beside him, and his eye seemed to glow red for a moment. The swordsman gripped the hilt of his sword so tight Usopp thought he might break it.

These guys looked way too scary for a supply run. Usopp was about to suggest they remain on the ship while everyone else go looking for what they needed, but Luffy cut him off.

"Nami," he said, and his voice was low and dangerous. "You're on lookout for any attacks. Franky… Make sure the ship is ready for a fast escape. Chopper, there might be injuries."

Everyone nodded in agreement, but no one knew why Luffy was so grim. Without needing orders, everyone else sort of fell in line with Luffy and Zoro.

Usopp's legs were shaking. "Ne, Zoro. Do you know what's going on? This place seemed pretty safe before, but I'm getting a flare-up of my allergic-to-dangerous-situations disease…"

"Luffy's been using his Haki to look for Sanji for the past 10 days. And he found this place by instinct." Zoro looked over at Usopp, and then straight ahead again. "It wasn't an accident." Zoro paused by the door to level Usopp with a look. "The cook is on that ship." He waited for Usopp to respond.

Usopp didn't ask how Zoro knew, he just accepted that he did. And just like that, the fear was replaced with something else. If their nakama was on that ship, it was time they brought him home. "Isn't it possible they just picked him up at sea? That they saved him, and he couldn't get back to us because of the storm?"

"We're never that lucky," Robin said.


	14. Interlude

Interlude

There was thunder in the walls. That was the only way Sanji could think to describe it. Everything shook, and his room seemed to get smaller. The shadows seemed to get darker. Impossibly so. He felt that he was going blind in the darkness. He felt he was going crazy. He felt despair like he'd never felt before.

When the walls came down on top of him, he thought it was the end.

He never knew he could be so wrong.

Instead of crushing him, the stones melted away like sand and opened him up to the air. It was still darker than anything he'd ever seen, but the prison had gotten larger. Sanji brushed the debris off his arms.

"Sannnnjiiiii!"

Sanji recognised that name. He recognised that voice. It sounded like hope.

Setting his bare feet carefully one in front of the other like a colt just learning to stand, Sanji began to walk towards the sound of it.


	15. Thirteen

Thirteen

They'd been fighting for hours. One day had turned into the next, and they still weren't getting anywhere.

Maybe they were wrong? No, Zoro was positive they weren't. The cook was on the ship, and they were going to find him if they had to rip it apart one board at a time.

Zoro was remembering Robin's words to Usopp when he literally ran directly into Sanji and fell back onto his ass. He couldn't believe his luck.

The feeling drifted away when Sanji lifted a long rifle in his direction. Zoro frowned and adjusted the grip on his sword. "I don't think you want to do that, cock…" he said in a low tone.

To his surprise, Sanji's finger paused on the trigger and he actually looked at Zoro. Their eyes met, and Zoro felt dread and concern for how dark and empty Sanji's had become. Still, the gun was lowering, and that was a good thing.

"Sia," Reddan hissed. He was leaned against a wall, holding onto a wound that looked deep enough to kill. From the shape and size of it, Zoro was pretty sure it was from Brook's cane sword. The captain reached his free arm out to Sanji who seemed like he didn't know what to do.

Sanji took a few steps back and lifted a hand to his forehead. He looked dizzy. "…zoro…"

"He's not real!" Reddan bellowed in a voice that seemed to shake the whole room.

It was so commanding that even Zoro believed him. Which was why he didn't take insult when Sanji nodded and walked over to Reddan's side.

The cook ducked under the larger man's arm, taking his weight and helping him up the hall. Right past Zoro who was left contemplating his own existence. Any recognition that had seeped in was replaced by the control Reddan apparently had over him.

An explosion from wherever Usopp had decided to place the bombs or wherever Luffy was punching through something explosive halted their progress. The ship lilted so far to the side that it was just as easy to walk on the wall as it was the floor. They were all tossed so hard that to the side that Sanji was knocked away from Reddan.

Zoro saw the fall as an opportunity and moved to attack the captain, but Sanji was just suddenly there. He had inserted himself between a badly beaten Reddan and a very pissed Zoro like a bear cub trying to protect his injured mother. The gun was once more leveled at Zoro's head, but Zoro wasn't bothered by it. Not like it was the first time Sanji had ever threatened him.

"Do it," Reddan hissed, and Sanji visibly shivered. The cook looked like he might be sick when Reddan wrapped a big arm around Sanji's waist and started pulling him back down the hall.

Zoro matched their steps, and ignored Sanji in favour of angling his swords over his head like scissors on either side of Reddan's throat. When Reddan hit a wall and was forced to stop, Zoro gave him an out. "You get out of his head, or I'll cut yours off."

Reddan's eyes narrowed. "What do you think happens to him if you do that?"

Zoro shifted his swords, and a trail of blood ran down the edge of one. "We'll deal with that if it happens."

Without warning, Sanji kicked out at the pair of them to get himself some room. He had dropped the rifle to free his hands up so they could hold onto his head. His arms were bent, his forearms over his ears like someone with a migraine trying to block out a sound that would just not stop.

Zoro fell back just as the ship lurched again, and suddenly he had an armful of idiot prince. Sanji was flailing against him like a drowning kitten that didn't know he was just trying to help. Sea water streamed down the hall, and because of their angle, they were suddenly up to their necks in it. Reddan disappeared under the surface, and Zoro was content to let the fruit user drown.

Only once the water had crashed over them all did Sanji go still.


	16. Fourteen

Fourteen

Sanji woke up to the gentle rocking of the Sunny. There was light shining in through the window in the room, the sound of waves breaking on her bow, and the familiar feel of the bed in Chopper's infirmary under his back. A stiff pain laced up his side when he sat up, and on some level Sanji was pleased. It was the most real he'd felt in weeks.

Sanji slipped out of bed, and was pleased to find a pair of shoes laid out for him. His own shoes, even. He'd almost forgotten what shoes felt like. Not only that, but he was dressed in his own clothes. It was nice to feel normal again. After a stretch, he crossed to Chopper's desk and took a look at the calendar. The fourteenth.

Two weeks. He'd been out of it for almost two weeks.

He could only imagine the state of the kitchen after so long. How had they even stayed alive without him there to cook for them?

There was a brand new pack of cigarettes on the bed side table, as well as a golden lighter. It was a nice lighter. In fact, he'd been looking at exactly that lighter in the display case on board the Sea Market. Right before Zoro had told him it was time to leave. Right before Zoro had dithered behind.

There was a small note card next to the pack that just said, "Glad you're home but don't smoke in the infirmary, asshole." Sanji smiled. That was not Chopper's writing at all. Idiot Marimo. Did he think Sanji wouldn't notice?

It might not have been the epic or poetic valentines he'd gotten the two years before, but it made him just as happy. More than happy, even. It made him feel normal. Zoro was right; it felt like home. Carefully, Sanji folded the note and slipped it into his pants pocket. He didn't know why he wanted to keep such a stupid little thing, but he did. And the safest place for anything he wanted to keep was in his pocket.

Sanji popped a cigarette into his mouth and made his way to the galley.

He was shocked to find it decorated in all of the red and pink decorations he'd bought for Valentine's Day. Who would even know to do that? A part of him wondered if Luffy called Iva in to cook for him while Sanji was missing.

The crew were all sitting around the table, chatting and laughing, and being themselves. They didn't notice Sanji when he came in, and the cook was content to let that slide. He leaned on the door frame watching them. Zoro of all people was standing behind the stove making pancakes.

"Hey," he said softly before anyone else realised he was there. "Sorry about your decorations… They were the only ones we could find."

Sanji couldn't help but smiling. Especially for the way Zoro was wearing his 'Gentlecook' apron, and had a smudge of batter on his face. The swordsman was almost adorable. A far better looking valentine than any from Kamabakka Kingdom.

Zoro walked quietly to Sanji's side and placed a coffee into his hands, looking supremely proud of himself.

Sanji looked down at the coffee and choked a little laugh. Hushed, so as not to distract anyone else. "Did you draw a heart in my coffee?"

"What? It's a leaf! It's clearly a leaf!"

"That's a heart." Zoro had an insulted look on his face, but it was clear to Sanji that he was more embarrassed to have been called out than actually insulted. Sanji smiled wryly back. "Are you such an idiot that you don't know the difference between a heart and a leaf?" He asked softly.

"Just shutup and drink it," Zoro huffed.

Sanji was amused by how indignant Zoro was. He lifted the rim of the cup to his lips and gave it a try. "Oh. Oh, that's awful," he said, lowering his arms quickly and setting it on the counter next to the stove.

Zoro huffed and pulled off the apron. He turned it around and put it forcefully over Sanji's head, not bothering to make sure Sanji still had his arms free. "Cook's back," he declared and tightened the back of the apron so Sanji had to struggle free to get a pallet cleansing drink. Zoro was lingering longer than he needed to.

That was something Zoro had always done, and Sanji didn't know how he missed it before. Everyone had turned and was laughing and cheering and asking questions, but Sanji wasn't paying attention to anyone else. Instead he was looking at Zoro like he was seeing him for the first time.

Instinct drove Sanji's hand forward to snatch the front of Zoro's shirt. "Oi, Zoro," he said, dragging him back. It was an action he'd done a thousand times before, but this time there were no threats or arguments ready on his tongue.

"What?" Zoro snapped back, looking like he had more to say. He was prepared for a fight.

He was not prepared for Sanji to shut him up with a crush of lips in an unexpected kiss, and Sanji delighted in his surprise. It wasn't the first time he'd kissed a man. Kamabakka wasn't even the first time he'd kissed a man. But it was the first time he really genuinely believed that both parties were enjoying it.

There had been plans.

Plans for him, and Nami, and Valentine's Day. The valentine note, of course. But more than just that.

He'd planned presents. Some special things he knew she wanted or liked but wouldn't necessarily spend her own money on. He'd planned to let her sleep in late. To bring her an artistic drink. To do her room up in beautiful Valentine's Day decorations. He would make her breakfast, and it would be the best breakfast he'd ever made.

He was going to make her feel special and loved, and—according to his plan—that was when Nami would realise what was right in front of her all along. She would kiss him, and they would be in love forever.

There were plans.

And then Zoro…

Zoro had plans too. And Sanji hadn't noticed it until just then. He didn't even know if Zoro had noticed it until just then or if Zoro realised that he'd materialised Sanji's idea of the perfect Valentine's Day.

Sanji didn't know about all of that 'forever' stuff anymore. He just knew that Zoro had gone out of his way to make him feel happy and loved and safe. Something he'd done quietly over and over, around all of their fighting and bickering. Sanji thought that maybe, even just once a year, he could let Zoro know he appreciated it.

"About time," someone muttered, and Sanji thought it might have been Robin or Nami.

Zoro pushed him back sharply against the counter. He studied Sanji's face like he was looking for the punchline, and Sanji felt his cheeks go red. Seeming to make a decision, Zoro leaned in to rumble in his ear, "Idiot cook. You look hungry. Go eat... We'll continue this conversation later."


End file.
